A depressing day for an Indian fan. And all around I see the knives are out. Someone needs to take the blame; someone needs to be the fall guy.

Is Dravid an inadequate captain, heavens no! We have seen him do inspiring things before, make changes that made the difference. We know his work ethics, his passion for process, his desire to evolve. In fact there is no other player from his generation that has evolved so much throughout his career. As test batsman, as ODI batsman. And he still keeps evolving. This one test an aberration.

We must not look for instant results, but we should also not tie his hands down by insisting on which players to select and which must play.

Look around, do some head hunting, the only man capable of taking Indian cricket from this generation and handing it intact ' and better off ' is Rahul Dravid. Sachin is a mere shadow of what he was ' Ganguly for all his runs past his use by date.

Laxman only needs to play when we play Australia. Each time he gets out there is a defense that he got a peach of a ball, but what else did you expect in a test match, lollipops? The three names are the link to a past, which did not deliver, which folded up, and they need to go, they need to make way for the next generation.

It would be good for their passion, the blood and tears they have spent on their sport that they know this for themselves, that they go as giants. Else Indian cricket has taken a step backwards, again. Or stayed pretty much where it was, which is much the same too.

It was a Mahayudh, this last test. And we lost some giants in it. We lost some shine and we lost pride.

We will never know for sure, we may never ever know, but there was a strife and turmoil in the dressing room and that showed on the pitch.

The BCCI has been spending a lot of sound bites on professionalism and here is where they could take their first step. Change the powers structure that manages the team. Change the system where the team manager sits in the selection process.

I had, in anguish, once left some comments on Prem's old blog:

Dravid, you are too good a batsman to get yourself embroiled in what it takes to be a captain, you are far more important and better than the agony being a captain brings. You don't need this. I was right, but I was wrong too, that while he doesn't need that, Indian cricket needs him there.

More tomorrow.

Early in the morning today I got a call from a friend watching the day's proceedings in Kuala Lumpur. He had been trying to get me on the mobile which had been conveniently kept on the top shelf of the tall cupboard since yesterday.

"What is happening man? Why we going down the drain? Please not against Pakistan?"

And I read this morning a sane post from Prem

There is no reason to hit the panic button, although Team India fans always needed to keep that button in a handy distance for long now, India I still feel, bar a few weak spots, in a safe hands.

We couldn't have found a better top order, and I hope Dravid continues to stay there. He is perfectly suited to that spot.

I agree with Prem on most counts, I dig his analysis of the session and his keen sense of what is happening and where we are lacking. I love his passion for the sport and love the way he shows it. Notwithstanding some goons who choose to describe him otherwise in the comments box, he a brilliant sports writer and I wish he was back full time to Rediff doing it.

One thing I have disagreed with him is the ISO certification he has bestowed on VVS Laxman. Lasman for all his glorious innings is what Arjuna described Agarkar. One in a twenty innings player. It is perfectly all right to have a couple of players in the team, the Dhoni and Sehwag and the Afridis, those that bat the way they bat no matter what. But Laxman has, as a number three not been consistent enough there.

Moreover, he seems to lack that element of luck every sportsman in the world must have to succeed at the top. That horribly wrong chop from Tiger Woods that fall in the bush but leaves him just enough room to dig out. That ball from the Marcos Baghdatis in the second set in the game that could have gone to a tie-breaker if not for the ball falling half inch long.Sehwag has that kind of luck; Dhoni has it in abundance. Laxman just plain lacks it. We have seen him again go out to the brilliant delivery that could never have been bowled agin, to catches that could never be replicated again. Why then, do I wonder, Murphy's law always strikes him down.

Even without that he rarely takes the guard and you get the sense of confidence in his presence. I did a survey of that actually, from the dozen or so cricket followers here is Malaysia and every one it seems, keep their fingers crossed when he comes to bat.

Not so of Rahul Dravid. Tell them that an Indian wicket fell and they will ask: "Is Dravid still there?" And a nod of satisfaction if he is. As long as he is there the fort can't be breached. And recently,a new face seems to exude that confidence: the unlikely and reluctant all-rounder Irfan Khan Pathan.

Okay, I just stopped here and made a few calls. The questions, rapid fire and the answers in bold.

Q 1: Okay both Laxman and Pathan are on the pitch, both on 25 and a wicket falls, who would you want that batsmen ut to be?

Person 1: Laxman

Person 2: Laxman

Person 3: Laxman

Q2: Sachin and Dravid are batting, at 30 apiece, a wicket falls, who do you want it to be?

Person 1: Dravid

Person 2: Sachin

Person 3: Sachin

Q3: India are down 32 for 3, both Ganguly and Yuvraj are padded up, who do you want to walk out next?

Person 1: Ganguly

Person 2: Ganguly

Person 3: Ganguly

Okay two of the three people I asked the last question were Bengalis, but still.

Yesterday, after Federer had won the second set and was well in control of the third, Vijay said “Order is restored on the court.”

But Chaos still reigns in the Karachi National Stadium.

99.1 overs bowled so far. 414 runs and 17 wickets, the match is just four sessions old.

Unfortunately I could get to watch most of the day live yesterday. Very unfortunately indeed. And fooling it on the PDA was ending me the hair tearing state. I got to watch the whole day though, on the repeat later, well into the early hours of the morning.

And what a day it was. And in spite four wickets down I think we are in a good position. I like the look on Ganguly's face.

Boy I ma going to sit glued to the TV today. Although my friend tells me to go on another trip and follow it on the PDA. Hmmmm.

Read Moin Khan’s article at rediff; http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2006/jan/27moin.htm

and couldn’t stop the laughter. Absolutely hilarious. Wonder in which state of mind he was watching, or where he was watching it from.

BTW, not a single mention of the beamer, mind. Perhaps he had dozed off by then. Or the mention of the fours that preceded it.

My brother would have said: ye sudharne wala nahi hai. It didn’t occur to him even for a moment that what the pip-squek bowler lost there was his esteem and pride, what took away from the Faisalabad Stadium was adimiration and pride.

And since we are on the matters of unpardonable behaviour: what ever happened after Mr Boom-boom-cheat-while-no-one-is watching-afridi tampered with the pitch? It was a crime not just against cricket for which he was punished, but he had also commited a crime against the nation of Pakistan. He showed them in poor light. And it didn’t occur to the people of Pakistan to punish him for that?

I am still laughing.

I happened to look up my guestbook and found some interesting comments. Thank you. But some I can see too from the emails I got, that, words were not fully inderstood. For that I am to blame, of course, I did not express well.

I can't give a tongue in cheek reply to that the way Ghalib did:

Ya Rub who samjhe hain na samjhenge meri baat

Ya de unko samajh aur ya de mujh ko zabaan aur

I have to cofess that it is my zabaan that is lagging behind.

That said: I might clarify some things:

I never meant to belittle Sachin. I even wrote a poem on him, corky though it might be, of his greatness and the heavy burden he must carry. I will try to dig it out of one of the disks which hold by backed-up work and put it here soon. And to know in what great esteem I hold him, you might as well read an ancient article on Rediff, written at the height of the match-fixing scandal. Read it here. It is fiction but might show how much I idolize him. When in suffering we turn to God. We look for a Higher Power to intervene into our abject misery; it was such a cry.

What hurts is that we know what he is capable of, what he can do. What hurts is a watching an Colossus stand like a mortal. Like one of the many. He is not believe me, and the it seems plain that he is tormented by ghosts that do not exist.

Watching the ongoing Australian Open, saw Alan Wilkins ask Vijay a question, do you want to see great players struggle. And that is a sorry sight indeed. To watch a great player struggle; to be confronted by mediocrity and make it look like exceptional is heart wrenching. For none of the bowlers in the world today, with an exception of maybe one or two, can even claim to be even in the next lower rung than he is. None at least from the current host team he is playing against.

What of Shoib? That moody, sullen ill mannered bowler? Sachin has bettered even the ones better than him. Waqar has been made to smile wryly, Wasim has shook his head in despair.

Enough said.

If Shakespeare were to write a report we know what phrases would slipped in here.

When looking over at the pitch he would have said 'it was dead as a doornail.' The draw a 'forgone conclusion'. He would have told the bowlers to pack their 'bag and baggage' and get the hell out of there. He would have said to 'screw your courage to a sticking place' for what can you do on a pitch that is 'cold as stone'.

Watching Pakistan bat on and on, seeking personal glory would have 'beggared description'. Watching Shoib chuck in a beamer would have seen him crying 'foul play'. He would certainly have called Shoib 'a sorry sight'.

He might not exactly have said 'off with his head'. But in the end when eight overs still left and the test was called off he would have sighed 'good riddance'. He would certainly have called Younus Khan's futile attempts to carve a personal milestone at the expense of the team made him 'a laughing stock'. The is a phrase he probably would have used for the whole team, specially the captain. He was a shrewd man, was William, he would have told anyone who believed that Inzamam had nothing to do with the way the pitch was to be made long before even Indians arrived at Lahore were living in 'fools paradise'.

But Shakespeare has left the building and won't be doing the report.

What match? There were two teams there certainly, one was playing cricket, one was not. And that is that.

Since 'psychological points' and such phrases were in vogue in the commentary box: lets take a look too. Prem has some smile inducing wry comments on that phrase that there is hardly anything else to say on it. Can't help but remember Shoib's comments with irony: “Anyone can make a century on this pitch.”

Oh yes, and did you make a fifty there pip-squeak? Oh yeah, right you are a bowler, so how many wickets did you get then? I know one certain debutante who got five in the match and that after his coach had refused to teach him how to chuck.

Something should be said and done about that unsavory incident of the beamer directed at Dhoni. But what can you expect of a team that deliberately mutilates a pitch in a series that they are winning. Integrity?, Honor?, Cricket?

Tandoori Ashes. Lacks spice from the land that was coveted for its spice.

But one thing that swells my chest with pride, that makes me hold my head high: and I apologise now for an earlier post where I doubted if Irfan could bat well after the beating he got as a bowler, he made his captain proud, he made the country proud. I try to seek a player for whom I could use that word - proud - and only one Kamran Akmal seems to come to mind from the Pakistan team. That's a pity, for in the Indian team you could name all eleven and add Ganguly to the list too, when he came running with a bat and gloves in hand to calm Dhoni. That was the moment that stands out, knowing the history of the player and carrying drinks and all, knowing he was once the captain and still he ventured out, Gambhir or Parthiv would have been less effective, he knew his words would carry weight.

With that gesture, not just he, Team India grew taller by a foot.

Here is a quote from Trevor Chesterfield article in Indian Express:

Pakistan, it seems, are not only terrified of losing, they have also discovered the art of making more excuses of why they are serving up such unappetising fare than George Bush and the so-called weapons of mass destruction.

What is it about Tendulkar that is increasingly becoming disappointing? By Gawd, he is the best player that walked the cricket pitch, his innings scattered around a decade and a half are memories that warm the heart. But he of late - even the 35th ton did not give me the sense of awe that his fifties normally did - has become just one of them. Even a rung lower tha Janab e Aloo, leaps behind Dravid, miles of catching up with Ponting.

I hope, and pray, that he does not stay on till he becomes in the same league with Ganguly. Having to force his way into the team with what he has done and not with what he is doing. That would be tragedy that would be unbearable.

It all seems, though, that it is in his mind. His two knocks in the first two ODIs played against Sri Lanka showed that he still has the shots that made him awesome. His innings against the same opponents, same bowler he is facing now, in the match at the World Cup is an sterling example, something that has become digitally imprinted on every cricket fan.

Yesterday they showed a segment, a little footage of him at the pitch before the start of play. His eyes watching the pitching , shadow practicing, looking at the bowling end. He had far more focus and fire in his eyes then than when he actually came out to bat. Watching that segment thrilled me. It gave me a sense of confidence, all to be dashed.

I know saying anything against the Great Player is akin to blasphemy, but for more times than not recently, my hero has disappointed me.

* * *

Some time back I had a brief conversation with friend. The ever polite and diplomatic man would not commit himself to it, but we were discussing Dravid and agreed that he, by far, was the most suited to open an innings. The world knows that, the fans know that, the only stumbling block was that Dravid did not. He for reasons known to himself preferred the number 3 spot.

There is no one in the cricket world today who is temperamentally, technically suited for the job. He has the nous to pat the ball back to the bowler, ball after ball, and bring the feeling of despair into the opposition. Not one in the Indian batting lineup can we find who can defend twenty balls in a row and then find the twenty first just wide enough to be sent to the cover point ropes. Even Sachin can't lay claims to such mastery over self.

Captaincy came to him, he did not go to it. It searched and found in him the able candidate. Now the opening slot has come to him. It may be because of unhappy circumstances, it may be because he had little choice, but it has finally found the nesting place. Lets hope Dravid knows that.

* * *

I suddenly remember a snippet of a conversation I had with a friend a long time ago. Gavaskar and Vishwanath. I believed then, as I do now. If given the choice to watch all of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar's hundreds in one go and Gundappa Rachappa Vishwanath's 96 not out thirty four times, I would choose the latter.

In that same conversation I had said, I would rather Sachin be remembered like GR than Sunny. I would rather he paint just a few more canvasses, but paint them in such brilliance, with such color and artistry, with vivid imagination and unbelievable of schemes than paint canvas after canvas of mediocre kind. I would rather see him smash a magical ninety three than a pedestrian hundred.

But that’s just me….

After the Rudi blooper on the catch off the boot, when Kumble got Kaneria clean bowled, I half expected him to turn to the umpire and say: “I nearly got him this time, didn't I?”

For the ek-do who may not remember the anecdote:

Harold Larwood playing a charity match sent in one of his rapids and it hit the pads right in front of the stumps. The umpire, no Larwood fan, said “Not Out.” Larwood then sent one more that took the edge to the keeper, and the umpire was still adamant. “Not out.”

Larwood then turned back, thundered in with a fiery one that had the stumps tumbling, then turned to the umpire and said: “I nearly got him this time.”

* * *

I had guests walking, uninvited ones mostly. Some Bangla Deshis who work and live nearly. And as they applauded Afridi as he smashed poor Pathan, I wondered if I should offer them tea. As Afridi holed one, I decided I must be magnanimous and be a good host. Good breeding tells.

Another dull day. This one had nothing to do with the stop-pause-stop of the fifth day of the first test in Lahore but to the way things are here. It is cloudy and there is a hint of rain, but in this small town set in valley, when the clouds come they tend stay a while. They lend a gloomy atmosphere to the world, specially the nine holes we call the world when we don't call the rest of the world - the world.

It is particularly nice to fantasize, to daydream, to build castles in air, to pick nose and shake legs, to part the hair on the wrong side of the head in order to see how we look from the eyes of others. It is a particularly the kind of day when you sweat and like to take off the shirt and stay in boxers. A day when you are tempted to get that bottle of cognac off the shelf before the sun has set.

I will leave the castles in the air and daydreams for when the second test starts and whether plays foul again or when Agarkar is bowling and I have to take my eyes off the television and daydream to stay calm.

Some interesting bits came up recently: one was a a Harsha Bhogle article that had a nice, almost sardonic ending about Sehwag not knowing who Mankad and Roy were. Some have given it a range of adjectives from surprising to scandalous. Big deal.

So Sehwag Babu doesn't know who Mankad and Roy were? Did we expect it from the man. I mean there are all kinds of cricketers, some like to immerse themselves in the history, some just play the game cause they love the game.

It would definitely be a scandal if the words had come from Dravid's mouth. We expect him to know that, and know who bowled the first ball in the first test India ever played and where the ball was hit to, or who took the first run and how. Why we expect him to know who Boycott's grandmother is and how well she bowls. In fact, come to think of it, we expect a mighty lot from him, we expect him to captain without the freedom of choosing eleven he wants, we expect him to open the batting because he did not have the freedom and we expect him to do well.

We just can't expect everyone to know everything. Can we? For all his glorious presence in the cricket field I am not so sure if even Tendulkar knows that much of anything else except cricket. His favorite movie - for crying out aloud - is “Coming to America.” When if you were inclined to choose there were a plethora of movies, from Breakfast at Tiffanys to Forrest Gump and with Silence of the Lambs in between. There are from our own Bollywood movies like Aakrosh and Mandi. But then we love him for what he does best. And all of Mithun-da's movies, I might to satisfy a Great Bong.

Now, if Sehwag said that he did not know who Bipasha Basu was then it would worrying. One would be tempted then to advice him to take a break from cricket and get a life. Though one might have to take the view that he saying so because his wife is around.

We men tend to do that, the smart ones at least. My wife told me Bipasha was on at the show Koffee with Karan, and I went: “Bi… who?” She shook her head went off to cook sarsaon ka saag, I went to my computer, revved it up and clicked on play and watched the immortal dialog “jism” and “bhook.”

If Ganguly said that he does not know who Bipasha is then one could safely say he is lying.